On 14 Nov 2009 at 17:15, jean and terry wrote: > Hi, I am wondering if the terms Lord and Squire etc originated as > first names because the Lord or Squire could have fathered the > children. They then arranged for the woman to marry and for her > husband to give the bastard child a name. In this case you would > never be able to tell the true parentage as the husband would appear > on the birth certificates. > I wish I had a fiver for every time I have heard that tale! Almost always they are a piece of fanciful/wishful thinking and a family myth perpetuated by the gullible. One of the golden rules of genealogy is to always look for the most obvious explanation before going into the realms of fantasy - and the most obvious, and common, explanation is that forenames like Lord, Squire, etc, were originally surnames pressed into use as a christian name to perpetuate the name through several generations. It's the same with naïve beginners who always want to attribute the meaning of their surname to exotic foreign ancestors. ALWAYS look for the most obvious explanation first and 7 or 8 times out of 10 you will probably find there is a perfectly simple English/Scottish/Welsh/Irish origin for a name. It has always struck me as odd that genealogy and family history, which is a pastime that should attract the most disciplined and down-to-earth researchers who are not easily misled, seems in fact to draw in so many gullible people who want to believe in fairy tales (and I do NOT mean you, Jean and Terry, I'm just making a general point)! -- Roy Stockdill Professional genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE